Frances Guy, who has served nearly four years as the Britain’s ambassador in Lebanon, made her tribute following the cleric’s death late last week. Writing in a blog carried on the Foreign Office’s Web site, she called Fadlallah a decent human being and a “true man of religion.”

Captured below before the FCO pulled the page:

“Lebanon is a lesser place the day after, If I was sad to hear the news I know other peoples’ lives will be truly blighted. The world needs more men like him willing to reach out across faiths, acknowledging the reality of the modern world and daring to confront old constraints. May he rest in peace.”

The slanted view of any religious leader in the Middle East fits a blinkered stereotype, that of the wide eyed, death to america, we hate the west model, which conveniently allows “the west’s” proxy state (Israel) to further its own murderous ambitions in the area, by playing up these stereotypes to the hilt, to bolster support for themselves, whilst denying any meaningful form of communication with any other player in the Middle East.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor described Fadlallah as an extremist who inspired “suicide bombings, assassinations and all kinds of wanton violence.”

Britain’s Foreign Office said Friday the posting had been removed “after mature consideration.” A spokeswoman declined to elaborate.

Nasr, who had worked at the news network for 20 years, was fired Wednesday after saying Fadlallah was “one of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot.”

She later said in a blog that she had been referring to Fadlallah’s attitude toward women’s rights. The cleric has issued edicts banning “honour killings” of women and giving women the right to hit their husbands if attacked first.

She wrote that Fadlallah was “revered across borders yet designated a terrorist. Not the kind of life to be commenting about in a brief tweet. It’s something I deeply regret.”

"Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil & believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold that never breaks. And Allah hears & knows all things."
(The Qur'an, Al-Baqara, 2: 256)

“Political authority & religion are kin brothers, neither would stand but by its companion; because religion is the foundation of political power & its pillar, & political power is the guardian of religion; political power is not established with a foundation & religion cannot be implemented without authority.”
- Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi

"War is not merely a political act, but also a political instrument, a continuation of political relations, a carrying out of the same by other means" - Clausewitz

"O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things)."
(The Qur'an, Al Hujurat, 49: 13)